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[Rods2]

You might think you do, but you are wrong it belongs to the bank and if they go bust, you are an unsecured creditor. 

So you might think I will put my wealthy into valuables like gold in a safety deposit box, I'm the only one with a key, so the contents belongs to me. Wrong, in a bank emergency, the government can tell the bank to break the box open and confiscate them and use them as part of their assets. 

I have a piece of paper saying I own gold in a bank vault, wrong, you own a piece of paper, as all banks including central banks lend their gold out many times over. Look in the small print they are allowed to settle the piece of paper in any currency they choose, at a price they decide.  This why the gold price is always lower than the price of gold. The latter is the real physical yellow stuff like Lord Opti stores in his dovecote. 

Why does this matter: Cyprus, massive (often undisclosed bad) debts in banks, derivative liabilities where they are secured creditors, so get preference to depositors on a claim from the assets and bank leverage levels are still very high. In the US two leading banks each have about $70tn of derivative liabilities with is more than global GDP each. 

The €100,000 account guarantee is only a guarantee in so far as the Government is in a position to pay and they choose to honour it.  There in charge, they make the rules, if necessary as they go along.

How long have things been different, since a 2012 joint initiative by the UK and US governments to change the rules for a future financial emergency and guess what, they aren't in your favour, but the banks.  Virtually all financial initiatives like ZIRP, QE, and special low interest central bank lending funds since 2007 have not been for your gain but the banks.

So if you think your money is safe in a crisis, think again, cash in a mattress or gold in your dovecote (Lord Opti) might be a whole lot safer. Caveat Emptor. 

http://www.globalresearch.ca/it-can-happen-here-the-bank-confiscation-scheme-for-us-and-uk-depositors

When will the next crisis hit and why?

1) The Eurozone
Deflationary pressure due to Basel III requirement, the up and coming new round of stress tests, which I hope are a bit more real this time, rather than for political scalp saving like last time, where Spanish banks got a clean bill of health, just before when? Their banking crisis. 
Spanish banks still have massive and continuing to rise bad property debts.
Greece in bankrupt.
Portugal is almost bankrupt.
Italy is following Greece and Portugal, just not as near to the cliff face, yet!
Germany banks have probably at least €22bn of bad debts in shipping loans alone, where container shipping prices on the Baltic exchange collapsed in 2008 and have never recovered. Many of these loans will never be repaid where the ships are 30% less fuel efficient than the latest ones and are therefore are laid up where they can't turn a profit. Shipping companies used to be able to borrow up to 50% of the cost of building a ship, these days it is 90%.
Things have been quiet in the Eurozone of late, but none of the problems have gone away, it is a case of waiting to see where the next fire takes hold.

2) Japan is bankrupt with over 1 quadrillion Yen of debts or about 250% of GDP. Abernomics is the last throw of the dice, to try and inflate the debts away. The chances of it succeeding, probably about the same as a 1000-1 bet on an obscure outsider in a horse race.  What debts don't overwhelm, demographics and a falling population will. 

3) Look at the charts for the money supply charts for the 1920's Wiemar Republic, Zimbabwe and US. Spot any difference, I can't, so why will it be different this time? QE in the US is currently $85bn a month or €1.05tn a year, or about 8% of their GDP. Official inflation < 1%, the same inflation using their pre-1980's measure about 10%. Most Governments have now shot the inflation messenger as the old methods of calculation gave the wrong result. From a government point of view what is there not to like about understating inflation, it boosts GDP and reduces debts by stealth at your expense of course.  All of this massive rise has been since Nixon in 1971 abolished the link between the USD and the amount gold they held.

4) Overall levels of indebtedness in the US and UK are now higher than that, that caused the crash in 2007. UK wages are still falling in real terms (and are likely to continue to do so for the majority, while we have free movement of people in the EU and a vast pool of youth unemployment), so where is the money coming from for growth? Increasing personal and sovereign debts. 

Not only do savers get next to nothing in interest payments in the current, ZIRP world with every savings game in town rigged with QE (high bond prices, asset and equity bubbles), but their now very much on the front line when it comes to the next banking crisis and bailout. 

[Varche]

   Doesn't seem a very appropriate emoticon.

I cannot see Spain recovering in my lifetime. Net migration of two out for every one in. Tied to the euro. Corruption at epic scale. Dramatically falling birthrate. Housing will never recover. They have just(rightly in my view) said no to EuroVegas due to the horrific demands of the promoters. The screw will just keep tightening on Juan Public until they have a massive EU sponsored bank grab.

Buy gold. Buy land.

[Vamps]

  Doesn't seem a very appropriate emoticon.

I cannot see Spain recovering in my lifetime. Net migration of two out for every one in. Tied to the euro. Corruption at epic scale. Dramatically falling birthrate. Housing will never recover. They have just(rightly in my view) said no to EuroVegas due to the horrific demands of the promoters. The screw will just keep tightening on Juan Public until they have a massive EU sponsored bank grab.

Buy gold. Buy land.

But it is falling in price.........

[bigegg]

Buy gold.

Until Gold ownership is made illegal - as happened in the US.

Buy land.

Until "compulsory purchase orders" are made - converting your real estate into waste paper

As the Gremlin said (GremlinsII) "I recommend investmenting in shotguns and tinned goods."

[Sir Tigger KC]

I was working in Zimbabwe in 2000 and I knew people that as soon as they got paid, went out and spent their entire monthly salary on 'stuff'.  Anything that would store value, art, antiques, cars, motorbikes and of course foreign currency if they could get their hands on it! 

The reason was that the Zimbabwe dollar was in freefall and their money might be worth half by the next week or day!!    Scary!! 

[Johnny English]

In the summer I met a really interesting initiation at Balaton in Hungary - the local money. The owners of idea just wanted to avoid bad effects of financial crisis some years ago but it became to be success story. To be said briefly it works like simple barter, no banking so you own your money, no inflation, no international crisis just many local people who accept the local money, one condition there is what you have to achieve: to spend the money locally. The construction does have only one weak point: in case of having not any local service you need, you have to use official currency to pay the service or product you bought from nonlocal people. Solution: locals are continously seeking new partners for new services so the system is developing day by day.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

You might think you do, but you are wrong it belongs to the bank and if they go bust, you are an unsecured creditor. 

So you might think I will put my wealthy into valuables like gold in a safety deposit box, I'm the only one with a key, so the contents belongs to me. Wrong, in a bank emergency, the government can tell the bank to break the box open and confiscate them and use them as part of their assets. 

I have a piece of paper saying I own gold in a bank vault, wrong, you own a piece of paper, as all banks including central banks lend their gold out many times over. Look in the small print they are allowed to settle the piece of paper in any currency they choose, at a price they decide.  This why the gold price is always lower than the price of gold. The latter is the real physical yellow stuff like Lord Opti stores in his dovecote. 

Why does this matter: Cyprus, massive (often undisclosed bad) debts in banks, derivative liabilities where they are secured creditors, so get preference to depositors on a claim from the assets and bank leverage levels are still very high. In the US two leading banks each have about $70tn of derivative liabilities with is more than global GDP each. 

The €100,000 account guarantee is only a guarantee in so far as the Government is in a position to pay and they choose to honour it.  There in charge, they make the rules, if necessary as they go along.

How long have things been different, since a 2012 joint initiative by the UK and US governments to change the rules for a future financial emergency and guess what, they aren't in your favour, but the banks.  Virtually all financial initiatives like ZIRP, QE, and special low interest central bank lending funds since 2007 have not been for your gain but the banks.

So if you think your money is safe in a crisis, think again, cash in a mattress or gold in your dovecote (Lord Opti) might be a whole lot safer. Caveat Emptor. 

http://www.globalresearch.ca/it-can-happen-here-the-bank-confiscation-scheme-for-us-and-uk-depositors

When will the next crisis hit and why?

1) The Eurozone
Deflationary pressure due to Basel III requirement, the up and coming new round of stress tests, which I hope are a bit more real this time, rather than for political scalp saving like last time, where Spanish banks got a clean bill of health, just before when? Their banking crisis. 
Spanish banks still have massive and continuing to rise bad property debts.
Greece in bankrupt.
Portugal is almost bankrupt.
Italy is following Greece and Portugal, just not as near to the cliff face, yet!
Germany banks have probably at least €22bn of bad debts in shipping loans alone, where container shipping prices on the Baltic exchange collapsed in 2008 and have never recovered. Many of these loans will never be repaid where the ships are 30% less fuel efficient than the latest ones and are therefore are laid up where they can't turn a profit. Shipping companies used to be able to borrow up to 50% of the cost of building a ship, these days it is 90%.
Things have been quiet in the Eurozone of late, but none of the problems have gone away, it is a case of waiting to see where the next fire takes hold.

2) Japan is bankrupt with over 1 quadrillion Yen of debts or about 250% of GDP. Abernomics is the last throw of the dice, to try and inflate the debts away. The chances of it succeeding, probably about the same as a 1000-1 bet on an obscure outsider in a horse race.  What debts don't overwhelm, demographics and a falling population will. 

3) Look at the charts for the money supply charts for the 1920's Wiemar Republic, Zimbabwe and US. Spot any difference, I can't, so why will it be different this time? QE in the US is currently $85bn a month or €1.05tn a year, or about 8% of their GDP. Official inflation < 1%, the same inflation using their pre-1980's measure about 10%. Most Governments have now shot the inflation messenger as the old methods of calculation gave the wrong result. From a government point of view what is there not to like about understating inflation, it boosts GDP and reduces debts by stealth at your expense of course.  All of this massive rise has been since Nixon in 1971 abolished the link between the USD and the amount gold they held.

4) Overall levels of indebtedness in the US and UK are now higher than that, that caused the crash in 2007. UK wages are still falling in real terms (and are likely to continue to do so for the majority, while we have free movement of people in the EU and a vast pool of youth unemployment), so where is the money coming from for growth? Increasing personal and sovereign debts. 

Not only do savers get next to nothing in interest payments in the current, ZIRP world with every savings game in town rigged with QE (high bond prices, asset and equity bubbles), but their now very much on the front line when it comes to the next banking crisis and bailout. 

Er...accuracy please, Mr Rods.

I actually own a brace of dovecotes.....both full to the brim with my excess wealth

Thought provoking post.

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

You might think you do, but you are wrong it belongs to the bank and if they go bust, you are an unsecured creditor. 

So you might think I will put my wealthy into valuables like gold in a safety deposit box, I'm the only one with a key, so the contents belongs to me. Wrong, in a bank emergency, the government can tell the bank to break the box open and confiscate them and use them as part of their assets. 

I have a piece of paper saying I own gold in a bank vault, wrong, you own a piece of paper, as all banks including central banks lend their gold out many times over. Look in the small print they are allowed to settle the piece of paper in any currency they choose, at a price they decide.  This why the gold price is always lower than the price of gold. The latter is the real physical yellow stuff like Lord Opti stores in his dovecote. 

Why does this matter: Cyprus, massive (often undisclosed bad) debts in banks, derivative liabilities where they are secured creditors, so get preference to depositors on a claim from the assets and bank leverage levels are still very high. In the US two leading banks each have about $70tn of derivative liabilities with is more than global GDP each. 

The €100,000 account guarantee is only a guarantee in so far as the Government is in a position to pay and they choose to honour it.  There in charge, they make the rules, if necessary as they go along.

How long have things been different, since a 2012 joint initiative by the UK and US governments to change the rules for a future financial emergency and guess what, they aren't in your favour, but the banks.  Virtually all financial initiatives like ZIRP, QE, and special low interest central bank lending funds since 2007 have not been for your gain but the banks.

So if you think your money is safe in a crisis, think again, cash in a mattress or gold in your dovecote (Lord Opti) might be a whole lot safer. Caveat Emptor. 

http://www.globalresearch.ca/it-can-happen-here-the-bank-confiscation-scheme-for-us-and-uk-depositors

When will the next crisis hit and why?

1) The Eurozone
Deflationary pressure due to Basel III requirement, the up and coming new round of stress tests, which I hope are a bit more real this time, rather than for political scalp saving like last time, where Spanish banks got a clean bill of health, just before when? Their banking crisis. 
Spanish banks still have massive and continuing to rise bad property debts.
Greece in bankrupt.
Portugal is almost bankrupt.
Italy is following Greece and Portugal, just not as near to the cliff face, yet!
Germany banks have probably at least €22bn of bad debts in shipping loans alone, where container shipping prices on the Baltic exchange collapsed in 2008 and have never recovered. Many of these loans will never be repaid where the ships are 30% less fuel efficient than the latest ones and are therefore are laid up where they can't turn a profit. Shipping companies used to be able to borrow up to 50% of the cost of building a ship, these days it is 90%.
Things have been quiet in the Eurozone of late, but none of the problems have gone away, it is a case of waiting to see where the next fire takes hold.

2) Japan is bankrupt with over 1 quadrillion Yen of debts or about 250% of GDP. Abernomics is the last throw of the dice, to try and inflate the debts away. The chances of it succeeding, probably about the same as a 1000-1 bet on an obscure outsider in a horse race.  What debts don't overwhelm, demographics and a falling population will.

3) Look at the charts for the money supply charts for the 1920's Wiemar Republic, Zimbabwe and US. Spot any difference, I can't, so why will it be different this time? QE in the US is currently $85bn a month or €1.05tn a year, or about 8% of their GDP. Official inflation < 1%, the same inflation using their pre-1980's measure about 10%. Most Governments have now shot the inflation messenger as the old methods of calculation gave the wrong result. From a government point of view what is there not to like about understating inflation, it boosts GDP and reduces debts by stealth at your expense of course.  All of this massive rise has been since Nixon in 1971 abolished the link between the USD and the amount gold they held.

4) Overall levels of indebtedness in the US and UK are now higher than that, that caused the crash in 2007. UK wages are still falling in real terms (and are likely to continue to do so for the majority, while we have free movement of people in the EU and a vast pool of youth unemployment), so where is the money coming from for growth? Increasing personal and sovereign debts. 

Not only do savers get next to nothing in interest payments in the current, ZIRP world with every savings game in town rigged with QE (high bond prices, asset and equity bubbles), but their now very much on the front line when it comes to the next banking crisis and bailout. 

From what I saw in a recent documentary it seems that many Japanese men have a low sex drive. Men in their twenties, thirties  forties and fifties  would rather enjoy a 'cup of tea' and the latest 'computer app' than get their leg over.

 I fear that a falling population, combined with an ever growing number of coffin dodgers to support, will seal Japan's fate.

[Varche]

Well at least EU banks will now be safe.

Drop in the ocean of course.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25426904

[Kevin Wood]

Well at least EU banks will now be safe.

Oh, look! That pig's leaving a pretty con-trail.

[Rods2]

Well at least EU banks will now be safe.

Drop in the ocean of course.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-25426904

"Banks will be charged a levy which will build up a 55bn euro (£46.5bn, $76bn) fund over 10 years. If there is not enough money in the pot, national governments can supply funds, or borrow to do so."

"Over the main years of the crisis, European governments spent 1.5 trillion euros (£1.3tn; $2tn) propping up the banks."

Problem fixed then in ten years time if we have crisis like over the last few years €55bn, will cover €1,500bn easily then. 

I disagree with this approach as there is no 'moral hazard' much better would be deposit insurance from third parties, that banks are barred from directly selling so no repeat of the PPI scandal. Anybody can insure their money, BUT the price of the insurance will be reflected in the banks financial rating. This creates a moral hazard and would force the banks to act prudently to keep premiums down. This is not dissimilar to how Hong Kong works and if a bank goes bust in Hong Kong then tuf where you had the option to insure your deposits. Since two banks went down in the 1960's, banks know they will get no government support, which is why HSBC has come through this crisis, much better than the other big three in the UK.

[TheBoy]

Men in their twenties, thirties  forties and fifties  would rather enjoy a 'cup of tea'...  ...than get their leg over.

TB looks in mirror...   ...nope, no slit eyes here

[omega3000]

Men in their twenties, thirties  forties and fifties  would rather work on Omega's and the latest 'computer app' than get their leg over.

Fixed 

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Men in their twenties, thirties  forties and fifties  would rather work on Omega's and the latest 'computer app' than get their leg over.

Fixed 

Very true.......and how sad is that?

[Rods2]

Men in their twenties, thirties  forties and fifties  would rather work on Omega's and the latest 'computer app' then get their leg over.

Fixed 

Fixed further.